Osman Notice.

In an effort to prove how extremely rare it is for a British police officer to be killed in the line of duty the number 1 news story in the UK is still those two female police officers who were killed in Manchester on Tuesday (18/9/12). The story has now progressed into talking about the specifics of gun crime within Manchester with the whole thing being blamed on a feud between Manchester crime families. In an effort highlight how bad the situation is the police are claiming that they've been forced to issue a record number of what are known as "Osman Notices."  The name comes from a 1998 case brought before the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in which the widow and son of Ali Osman who was shot and killed by Paul Paget-Lewis in London in 1988 sued the Metropolitan Police for failing to warn Mr Osman that they had intelligence that Mr Paget-Lewis intended to kill him. The ECHR dismissed the claim for damages but ruled that the police did have a duty to warn (but not protect) people who they had intelligence suggesting that they would be killed. These warnings became known as Osman notices.

Although they are more often used by the police as a way to annoy known criminals Osman notices do carry some legal weight. For example under normal circumstances British law does not allow you to use lethal force to remove a trespasser from your property. However if you are living under an Osman notice that would contribute to a reasonable belief that the trespasser presented a legitimate threat to you life allowing you to use lethal force to deal with them. Under extreme cases where the intelligence leading to the issuing of the Osman notice suggests a long term and severe threat to life (such as being on an IRA hit-list) the person to whom the notice applies can be exempted from British laws regarding the possession and use of offensive weapons including firearms. So after appropriate training the individual (normally a serving or ex-law enforcement officer) can be allowed to keep and use a range of firearms including semi-automatic pistols, assault rifles and even grenades.

Or to put it another way if the Brits are still fretting about how much time and energy they have to spend protecting me they should just hurry up and issue my firearms certificate along with my driving license because if they were to give my passport back I'm sure I could find someone prepared to train me to above and beyond the usual standards.

12:25 on 20/9/12.